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Updated Arduino Shield Scaffold

Last year I made a pair of simple Eagle CAD files that contained headers and board outlines for an Arduino shield. The idea was that you could create a new project, copy the scaffold .sch and .brd files into it, then rename them and begin designing your new shield project. There are several part libraries out there with Arduino layouts, but in order to change the board outline, text, or add/remove holes, you'd have to go into the library and edit the part. And you'd actually need to make a new part, because if you ever open a different project and update the libraries, your edited part would overwrite whatever you had before.

Anyway, I updated the Shield Scaffold to be a little more useful. The TallParts layer contains outlines of the USB connector, power connector, and ISP header. You want to avoid any pins or exposed copper in this area, otherwise you may have an accidental short. The ArduinoHoles layer contains the original hole locations and diameters on the Arduino, in case you want to duplicate those holes to mount the shield securely with screws.

When you're ready to generate Gerber files, just make sure the TallParts and ArduinoHoles layers aren't selected in any of the CAM layers.

I like the idea of starting with a template rather than a part because, as you say, you don't have to crack the part open to tweak it (and we know how easy Eagle makes *that*).

So on that tack, why not just put the 6-pin ISP header and the other popular stuff (6/8-pin females, reset button, etc) right on the template? I say this because it's trivial to just delete them off at the beginning, and much more work to find and add them later, even if one only uses half of them.

I guess the argument against it is that we'd have to agree with the particular parts that you've chosen (e.g. I'd rather have Xmil holes for my 6-pin header rather than the Ymil holes that you're using). But deletion is just so easy that I think it's still a huge win.

Just a thought. Figured I'd get it out there before it died of loneliness.